The Permaculture Institute of Afghanistan

Location of Project: Kabul, Afghanistan
Project Start Date: 2009
Expected Completion Date (i.e. when project becomes self sufficient): 2012

Project Concept:

A self sustaining Permaculture farm and training centre where the disenfranchised widows and orphans of Afghanistan can be empowered with the knowledge of Permaculture and in turn pass this knowledge on to others around Afghanistan.

Detailed Project Description:

This project is to be run as a partnership with Mahboba’s Promise and the Permaculture Research Institute of Australia. The focus of this project would be to liaise with the Permaculture organisation to set up a training centre in Kabul where men, women and youth could come from all over Afghanistan to relearn some of the traditions lost and acknowledge new ways of looking after the earth and growing their food. Permaculture concepts can be applied to waste disposal - which in Afghanistan is usually non-existent - so teaching composting and using waste constructively would be of huge benefit. Another area which has tremendous potential is the harvesting of water which is abundant after the snows, yet lost because we do not use any techniques for storing or conserving it.

Hope House and Garden Plots

The first students would be the widows that are living in the Hope House centre and those who are supported as part of the Widow Outreach Program. By building a model permaculture farm near our Hope House base, there will always be willing hands to help even when no courses are being undertaken. The model farm would benefit the whole community and there would be a ready market place for surplus produce.

Furthermore, we have the opportunity of a close liaison with a large micro-credit organisation which is keen to work with us once we can identify workable strategies by which our widows can become self sufficient. So we can either help widows return to traditional land with the confidence to start implementing what they have learnt or we can secure allotments near Kabul which the widows can farm and sell their produce.

Students can be drawn from all over Afghanistan and the knowledge that they will take back to their communities will be invaluable and help create the future of a stable and healthy Afghanistan.

Project Duration & Schedule:

The garden stands in contrast to its surroundings

Initially appropriate land needs to be sourced and purchased close to Hope House, our centre in rural northern Kabul.

April 2009 – A team of Permaculture Teachers, Permaculture Administrator and a Permaculture Project Manager will go to Afghanistan for 3 years to get the site developed and fully operational and completely sustainable including economically.

Long Term – We will send those trained at our Kabul Permaculture Project to other areas in Afghanistan, especially the remote Panjshir Valley, where we hope to set up a similar project. In this way Permaculture can spread across Afghanistan and provide food, clean water, and environmental awareness to many.

Project Needs:

Land, Teachers, Expertise, Scholarships and Funding

Other Information:

Mahboba’s Promise projects are designed above all to be sustainable, so Permaculture fits very well with our vision. We are able to work very effectively in Afghanistan due to intimate knowledge of the language, culture and people. We have set up several projects which are now self sustaining.